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LS430 isn't a firmly sprung car but anybody who calls it a boat has never driven a Lincoln Town Car or something like that lol
Actually, I've driven a number of Town Cars. A friend of mine once worked and drove for a limo firm...they had several of them. In fact, I helped him buy a brand-new one for the firm at the old Cherner Lincoln-Mercury Shop at Tysons Corner....before Mercury folded.
To be honest, though, I never liked the looks of the post-1997 versions with the Jaguar-ish roofline and the Kia-Amati-look to the trunk lids, which also did away with the nice hood ornament. I thought the older versions that were more of the standard three-box design looked a lot better.
For while, the public also did.....the old ones actually went up in value as used cars when the new ones came out in 1997....because many of the buyer-base also liked the old look better and decided to hang onto them rather than trade.
Last edited by mmarshall; Dec 25, 2025 at 07:24 PM.
We drove each suspension version of the LS430—standard, sport, and luxury—on the highway and on the fast, 14-corner Road America race course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Regardless of the type of suspension, the LS430 glides down the road seemingly a couple of inches off the pavement, as though ripples and cracks and expansion joints weren't even there. At the limits, braking hard from 105 mph to set up for a 65-mph hard right, the car's weight transfers smoothly forward without any lurching dive. It responds obediently to the merest hint of steering input and turns in smoothly and precisely. Exceed the limit, and it transitions progressively into oversteer that's easily corrected with a slight lift off the throttle and a mere flick of the wheel.
We drove each suspension version of the LS430—standard, sport, and luxury—on the highway and on the fast, 14-corner Road America race course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Regardless of the type of suspension, the LS430 glides down the road seemingly a couple of inches off the pavement, as though ripples and cracks and expansion joints weren't even there. At the limits, braking hard from 105 mph to set up for a 65-mph hard right, the car's weight transfers smoothly forward without any lurching dive. It responds obediently to the merest hint of steering input and turns in smoothly and precisely. Exceed the limit, and it transitions progressively into oversteer that's easily corrected with a slight lift off the throttle and a mere flick of the wheel.
That hardly describes boat-like behavior.
The issue is he's comparing cars that have active dampers, which wasn't a thing back then like it is now. Now a car can ride like an LS430 in a straight line and firm up in a corner...but back then the firmness in the corner meant the straight line ride suffered. When you drove an S Class or a 7 Series back then they had a firmer straightline ride that was necessary to give them their surefootedness when handling corners. Today my S Class rides soft in a straight line and stiffens up in a corner and you get the best of both worlds. Remember how young he is, he's not even 30 he hasn't driven cars like we have from the 90s like Cadillacs and Lincolns that truly were boats.
The issue is he's comparing cars that have active dampers, which wasn't a thing back then like it is now. Now a car can ride like an LS430 in a straight line and firm up in a corner...but back then the firmness in the corner meant the straight line ride suffered. When you drove an S Class or a 7 Series back then they had a firmer straightline ride that was necessary to give them their surefootedness when handling corners. Today my S Class rides soft in a straight line and stiffens up in a corner and you get the best of both worlds. Remember how young he is, he's not even 30 he hasn't driven cars like we have from the 90s like Cadillacs and Lincolns that truly were boats.
Hey hey hey now. I'm JUST recently 30 lol!
And no I haven't been around those really old boats much because few are still alive and I'm indeed comparing to cars with active suspension, variable steering, and TVDs etc that do give you that total split personality.
I also did push the living hell out of my 02 LS430 including a 120-165mph sustained drive to Florida that totaled just over 10 hours from here. Many backroads sessions where I would just do laps and see how fast I can take corners before the car understeered and how the sway bar adjustments eventually made the car neutral. A stock XF40 on the same tires still does better than a sport suspension+heavy bar XF30 in raw speeds I can hold and is MUCH easier and confident doing it.
Vs the other stuff I have now the 430 is a boat and in the continuum of full size luxury cars it's a boat, I can attempt to find older domestics to try out more but a town car on air is the 10/10 on my boat scale right now.
Last edited by Striker223; Dec 26, 2025 at 12:32 PM.
And no I haven't been around those really old boats much because few are still alive and I'm indeed comparing to cars with active suspension, variable steering, and TVDs etc that do give you that total split personality.
I also did push the living hell out of my 02 LS430 including a 120-165mph sustained drive to Florida that totaled just over 10 hours from here. Many backroads sessions where I would just do laps and see how fast I can take corners before the car understeered and how the sway bar adjustments eventually made the car neutral. A stock XF40 on the same tires still does better than a sport suspension+heavy bar XF30 in raw speeds I can hold and is MUCH easier and confident doing it.
Vs the other stuff I have now the 430 is a boat and in the continuum of full size luxury cars it's a boat, I can attempt to find older domestics to try out more but a town car on air is the 10/10 on my boat scale right now.
Congrats on turning 30! lol
You have to compare cars to their contemporaries at the time. Of course the XF40 is more dynamic, its multi-link vs double wishbone etc. However, people did complain about ride quality vs the 430. The 2015 LS460 I had with coils definitely did not ride as nicely as an LS430 on coils. The 2017 LWB with air was a different story, although even it did have a lot of body lean in a big corner, way moreso than my S Classes.
If you test drove say a W140 though, that also is way more "boatish" than a modern S Class.
If you test drove say a W140 though, that also is way more "boatish" than a modern S Class.
I wouldn't call W140s boats either----as you said... cars like that/yours absolutely are excellent performers and have that German pedigree. They are born to hustle. That's why MBs are so famous for the autobahns, or just how there are so many stories of them on the autobahns.
You have to compare cars to their contemporaries at the time. Of course the XF40 is more dynamic, its multi-link vs double wishbone etc. However, people did complain about ride quality vs the 430. The 2015 LS460 I had with coils definitely did not ride as nicely as an LS430 on coils. The 2017 LWB with air was a different story, although even it did have a lot of body lean in a big corner, way moreso than my S Classes.
If you test drove say a W140 though, that also is way more "boatish" than a modern S Class.
Thanks! I still feel like I'm older than I actually am but it's cool to be able to say I got to where I am by now, I have my house payed off next month too so I am in a good place.
As far as LS430 vs the world I think you will remember that the day I bought my first one I also drove an S600 Renntech from the same seller, that thing has control with the ABC suspension as does the E38 BMW and E65 that are both overlapping the XF30.
Road trip in the Tundra with the family. Right at 540ish miles. Took around 7hrs 30 min. Really wanted to take the Bimmer but tundra needs to stretch its legs since it sits alot.
ZERO stops. Asked wife if we stop at Bucees can we make it quick. She said the kids are going to want to look around…Asked if anyone has to use the restroom and everyone said no. Wife slept 95% of the way.
Was going to stop to grab food at Bucees but didn’t realize I passed it until I saw sign for next one in 92 miles and I was 20 miles past one I intended on stopping at. Coming up on next one I asked if anyone needed bathroom break and everyone said no so kept going to our destination.
I should have around 4 gallons left. First 170 miles I only averaged 14.5-14.8mph. Cruise set to 84mph. Rolling hills. Once it flatten out my mpg increased
Last edited by BayeauxLex; Dec 26, 2025 at 06:22 PM.
Road trip in the Tundra with the family. Right at 540ish miles. Took around 7hrs 30 min. Really wanted to take the Bimmer but tundra needs to stretch its legs since it sits alot.
ZERO stops. Asked wife if we stop at Bucees can we make it quick. She said the kids are going to want to look around…Asked if anyone has to use the restroom and everyone said no. Wife slept 95% of the way.
Was going to stop to grab food at Bucees but didn’t realize I passed it until I saw sign for next one in 92 miles and I was 20 miles past one I intended on stopping at. Coming up on next one I asked if anyone needed bathroom break and everyone said no so kept going to our destination.
I should have around 4 gallons left. First 170 miles I only averaged 14.5-14.8mph. Cruise set to 84mph. Rolling hills. Once it flatten out my mpg increased
Good ole 5.7 will guzzle. But who cares and who cares anyway especially with cheap gas again. At least we know they won’t grenade. And besides, my LX costs $44 to fill up now lol.
